Dreading having another new vet

I had hoped my vet woes were over, but no. Some of you may have seen posts last year where I mentioned going through two vets pretty quickly after Mia's diagnosis due to their lack of knowledge or not wanting me to be actively involved in monitoring/managing her care. Then, I was happy to find an internal medicine specialist who was knowledgeable and had no problem with me being very hands on. He basically told me to keep on doing what I was doing and that he was there if I needed him for anything. So, I thought we were done. Then, he left to do national consulting.

So, now, I face a fork in the road. We are on our last insulin vial, so it is time for a new prescription. I can either take her to see the new internal medicine specialist who replaced the other one, or I can try a mobile vet whose name I got from a dental specialist (who I love). Mobile would be so much less stressful for both of my girls (and me), but I just had my first phone conversation with the mobile vet, and I now have concerns. She made some comments that I did not like. She thinks 'a cat should be a cat, not a pin cushion'. Apparently, she has seen or knows of some horror stories. She mentioned people chasing their cats down to test them and having their ears all bloody and so on. I told her that Mia runs and jumps on her testing spot and holds her ear out for me to poke it then she eats her treat and goes her merry way. She said she has never seen/heard of that, but if it is true, then she would have no problems with me testing - though, in her opinion, testing should not be done daily but rather just occasional curves. I said no one would blindly shoot insulin in a child, and I am not going to do it in my cat. She said cats are different. With people, if the numbers drop too low, you can 'give them a cupcake' to bring it back up, but you cannot do that with cats. I told her that you CAN steer a cat's numbers up with carbs; I have done it! She thinks how the cat is doing is what is important for the cat, not the numbers that may be important to the owner. She had a past client who she 'fired' because they were sending her testing data all the time and calling her at all hours, etc. I told her I would not be doing that. In the end, she said she would be glad to come, and we can 'give it a try'. She will be hands off as long as I'm not 'doing anything unreasonable'.

I have not talked to the new specialist, so I have no idea if he would be better than her or not. I have been at this long enough that I know I do not need to rely on a vet very much at all. I mainly need someone to give me prescriptions and to do blood work to make sure everything else in my baby is working well. So, I just need to decide if having the mobile aspect outweighs knowing that really she and I do not agree on how to manage this. Why is this so hard? Ridiculous!!!

 

I say talk to the other guy before making any decision.

 

I am with Janet. You have an appointment with the mobile vet, so you can cancel or keep based upon your discussion with the IM vet replacement.

 

Wow reading through forum makes me appreciate my vet. He is the one who told me to get a monitor and he wants her tested daily at least twice. He did hand me the wrong syringes yikes but I’ll give him that...I want to see how he reacts when I tell him tomorrow.

I love my mobile vet. She’s not the one taking care of Gretchen as she was too booked when I needed to get her in, but it is so nice to have her come to home. I don’t know if poor Gretchen is ever going to take to truck rides

 

Actually, I don't. I did not make one yet. After that call, I needed to think about it. The more I have thought about it, the more I am not happy about all the things she said. Some of it seems very 'dramatic'. I mean come on, has anyone here chased their cat down and made such a disaster of poking their ear that the ear was 'all bloody' and there was 'blood running down your arm' (yes, she said that). Some of it was almost offensive to me, and there were threads of ignorance running through it - we can absolutely steer our cats glucose level with carbs/sugar, so what is she talking about?! My girls are my babies. They are very spoiled and very happy. Right now, more than ever, I feel that my life is revolving around them... I will not even travel since Mia's diagnosis because she is such a mama's baby, and I know having anyone else try to take care of her would not go well. So, for that woman to imply that people who do daily home testing are being cruel to their cat gets me a little riled up.

The flip side of it all though is that I know the mobile aspect would be so much easier on Mia and Willow than taking them to the vet. So, I have to decide if I can just let this woman do the blood work and exam and give me a prescription and just not talk to her any more about any details of my care for Mia. Really, if there are no issues that come up, I probably would not have to deal with her more than maybe once every 6 months.

 

Maybe take another couple of days to think it over. You'll probably end up feeling more strongly about one or the other.

 

It is hard when they take a holier than thou voice. I lucked out with my IM vet but have been floundering since our regular vet has gone on maternity.

I need someone to see if they will do dental for Jones but I only trust our old vet....so now I am wondering if I should do a complete move with him. The IM vet doesn't do dental's or deals with the FD.

Was thinking of a holistic vet service. See what they think of all the meds and maybe see if we can try some alternative remedies. (they offer massage, chiropractic and acupuncture.)

It is so hard with the cats. I always had droolers and dragged the cats to the same vet. Vets don't seem to have the same amount of awareness about feline health.

 

So, last week, I decided to make an appointment with the new specialist. I would not get to speak with him first, but I was going to take the chance. The appointment is for next week. Well, today, I get a call from a lady at the clinic letting me know that since our previous Dr. is gone and this is a new Dr., the appointment would be considered a new consultation. She mentioned that Mia had not been in in 5 months and said that the Dr. wanted her to let me know that he manages diabetes differently. He does not go by curves. Instead, he would want us to come in for more frequent checks. So, this guy wants us to come in every few weeks for a spot glucose test and fructosamine. Not gonna happen! Obviously, diabetes is not among his specialties. I continue to be amazed by the ignorance in the vet community about feline diabetes and by how insistent some are about 'their way' of doing things. What happened to taking into consideration the desires of the patient - or patient parent/owner in this case?! I was willing to have a conversation with him to see if he was willing to work with me, but he does not do phone consults regarding any patient he has not previously seen. Whatever.. bye!

So, I decided to make an appointment with a vet that I took my cats to for many, many years. I stopped going to the clinic where she is because of a bad situation that happened with one of my babies.. which ended with me losing him.. but my doctor was not involved in that ordeal, and it has been years now. I took Willow to her a few months back, and I mentioned Mia having diabetes. She said 'diabetes is hard' and 'rarely goes by the book'... 'kitties just refuse to read/follow the book!'. At the time, she suggested I keep going to the specialist I was going to who was very well known and respected. I got the impression that diabetes is not her favorite thing to treat.. that's okay, I just need bloodwork and an insulin prescription. Because of the way she responded, I do not think she will be so 'my way or the highway' about things. Also, I have always found her to be reasonable and kind. So, here's hoping this one is the answer! The appointment is Friday. I will let you know.

 

I think this general practice vet seems to be just the ticket for you. You have a ton of experience treating Mia's FD and more knowledge than almost every vet so finding one who appreciates the difficulties and won't be hard nosed with you is what you want.

FWIW - somehow I got onto the subject of FD with my horse's vet quite a while ago and he said right away that cats' endocrine systems are very complex and FD is hard to treat in many cases. Horse vet!!

 

Our vet visit is over! Going back to my long-time 'regular' vet was the right thing to do. I still really like her. She is calm and kind. She has no issue with me being involved/having a say in things, and in fact said that is the way she prefers it. She acknowledges that, at this point, I may have more 'depth of knowledge' regarding feline diabetes than she does. After our initial talk, she went in the back and looked up some things. I think she was basically confirming some of the things I said regarding other types of insulin, since she did not have first-hand knowledge about/experience with them. She came back out and thanked me for bringing them to her attention, and apparently, what she read confirmed what I said. Now, this, I can work with! Hopefully, we can just stay with her from now on.

 

Would she be willing to be cloned???

Sounds like you really hit the jackpot!!!

 

I'm not asking.. she might think I am weird.

 

This is great!

 

Wow good find and a keeper for you and your babies. We stopped by the vet's office today about Candi and like you he didn't see me testing her sugar at home to keep an eye on it. Then gave me the speech about she may have gotten too much insulin after I told him it was the steroid shots that affected her BG. Then it was well let's bring her back in, in a few weeks to recheck but your numbers at home, I don't want to go by them I want to go by mine because I trust them more. I looked at my husband and he at me like "NOT". We plan to take Candi to the vet that was treating her for her thyroid like you sometimes we have to just keep looking. Even when I called them, she agreed that since her numbers were normal that is what made them go up. I am glad that you found a good vet. It means alot when they will listen to you and take the time to care not just treat you like a $.

 

Yesterday, I had a voicemail from someone at the vet's office saying she asked them to call and see how Mia is doing on her new insulin. That was so nice. I called back to let them know that I appreciated the call and that we are planning to start the new insulin this weekend.

Now, this makes me feel a bit of a dilemma. The vet said to start Mia at 1u of Levemir. I know that is not a high enough starting dose for her. I think 1.5u is the absolute lowest I want to go, and really, more like 2u would be better. I am not looking to start a discussion here on what the right dose is (been there, done that, on different forum), but the conflict I now feel is whether to call the vet today and let her know. I was planning to just start wherever I wanted. I did not expect to even talk to the vet until I next take Mia in. But, since she was so kind to check in, I now feel bad. I do not want to 'go against' her right off the bat.. or lose her trust. She is willing to work with me, so maybe I should just call today before staring the insulin tomorrow. Thoughts?

 

I get it. You like this vet and want to start off on the right foot. You also want to do what's best for Mia and that involves not losing BG ground by lowering the dose too much. In my opinion (and I'd be in turmoil in your position too) being open and honest with the new vet will set the tone going forward. If there's a way you could set up a time for her to call you so you can talk about these things and stress that your experience to date tells you that 1 u is too low a Lev starting dose, that would be best. It'll be your first true collaborative interaction with her.

 

Yes, you get it. I think I will call and see if there is an email address where I can send a note that they can give to her. Then, she can either have them respond via email or she can call me. Maybe I will share the published protocol and tell her that is one of the references upon which I am basing my thoughts on dose.

 

You could call the office to see if you can send an email. When I was doing curves for my vet back in the dark ages I'd email the data to the clinic's email address but put it attention to her. You could share the protocol.

 

When Dusty was first diagnosed my vet gave me the insulin, injections and the link to this web site. I couldn't have done it without everyone here.

 

Maybe you can invite your new "old" vet to join our site.

 

*nods head furiously*

Very pleased to read yo have a vet you can have a dialogue with. So important.

 

So, you know what they say about 'best laid plans'... When I called earlier today and asked if there was an email address where I could send the doctor a note, the lady said, 'Sure!' and gave it to me. I have not heard anything in response to my email, and it is getting late in the day, so I called to see if it had been received. The lady I spoke with this time said the person who checks their email is out today, and in fact, so is our doctor. Now, don't you think the first lady should have mentioned that? Oh, well!

At least I am 'on record' for reaching out to her before giving a different dose than she said; however, I am still going to proceed with a higher dose I think I will go with 1.5 rather than 2 though. I think that will be less likely to make her mad at me. By the time she is back in next Thursday (she does not work every day), I will have a lot of data and will probably already have raised the dose. Ah, what a difficult balancing act between going with what I know is right and trying to be respectful of and cooperative with the vet I really like.

 

At the end of the day Mia is your kitty and you have to do what feels right and know is right no matter what the vet says. You're in good hands here and the vet just needs to understand and support you for the good of your kitty.

 

Someone always finishes last in the class. And yes, it could be worse.
Behold the wonders of medicine!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapours_(disease)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting
wake up and smell the "doctor".

 

Mia I think you are wise to trust your judgement on the dosage of your baby at least until you hear back from the vet. Maybe by some chance if you are that concerned someone at the office could contact your vet at home? With her not being there everyday would be a little complicated. Good Luck.

 

Just to be clear, I planned all along to just get the prescription and dose as I see fit (as usual). That has not changed. I would just feel better if I had been able to discuss the dosing with the vet before just doing it my way. I want a vet that will be a partner in this... being a partner requires something from both ends. So, I would have preferred a chance to share with her my reasons for the higher dosing. I think she would probably have gotten on board, at least with 1.5u (I do think 2 might have concerned her a little), and that would have felt better as far as our relationship goes than me just appearing to ignore her dosing completely. Oh, well... I tried. Hopefully, she will still be okay with it, and I will not have damaged her trust.